Gaming machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines, and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing machines and the expectation of winning each machine is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are most likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting of the machines.
Consequently, shrewd operators strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting machines available because such machines attract frequent play and, hence, increase profitability to the operator. In the competitive gaming machine industry, there is a continuing need for gaming machine manufacturers to produce new types of games, or enhancements to existing games, which will attract frequent play by increasing the entertainment value and excitement associated with the game.
One concept that has been successfully employed is to reward players for loyalty in playing certain games or playing at certain casinos. Once a player has been identified, he or she may be rewarded with incentives after achieving certain levels of wagering. Typically, the player's true identity is provided to the gaming terminal in the form of a player identification card or through the player's entry of certain information at the gaming terminal. Some players are reluctant, however, to reveal their true identity to a gaming terminal or a casino. Further, the use of Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) is popular for identification, but people often forget their PINs. As used herein, information that establishes a player's true identity is information that is absolutely unique to a person (e.g., a social security number or a credit card number) or at least substantially unique to a person (e.g., a person's full legal name) such that, if the information is known, it can be used to identify the true identity of the person.
As such, there is a need to develop a player identification system where the true identity of the player remains anonymous. The present invention is directed to satisfying this need.